by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. A half-marathon is supposed to end with a finish line, a medal, and a deep breath. For one 40-year-old runner in San Jose, California, the real finish line became something else entirely. According to the original account, he was only about a tenth […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current drowning-resuscitation guidance. A day at the beach turned into a life-threatening emergency when a Chicago father and his 14-year-old daughter were caught in rough water off St. Joseph, Michigan. The daughter began struggling in waves reported to be several feet high. Her father, Fidel Chavez, went into […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current pediatric CPR guidance. Sometimes the person who knows CPR happens to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. That is the lesson behind this older In-Pulse CPR story about Loraine Gray, a passerby who reportedly stopped to help when a 22-month-old girl became […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with verified details and current CPR guidance. You are never too young to learn CPR. In May 2009, 15-year-old Sara Broski proved that in a very real way when a woman suddenly collapsed aboard a BART train in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sara had completed CPR training only […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with verified details and current CPR and emergency-scene safety guidance. On February 28, 2011, Edward Johansen was driving along Route 140 in Norton, Massachusetts, when he witnessed a frightening crash. A vehicle struck a utility pole hard enough to bring down electrical wires. Inside was a driver who would […]
by Tom SirmonsUpdated October 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. A normal dinner out turned into a life-or-death emergency in Cayucos, California, when a 74-year-old man suddenly collapsed on a sidewalk. Nearby bystanders rushed to help. Then law enforcement arrived with an automated external defibrillator, or AED. The combination of bystander CPR and early AED use […]
by Tom SirmonsUpdated September 2026 with current CPR and AED guidance. The emergency call to Marin County, California, sounded routine: “Bicyclist down.” Firefighters and paramedics respond to plenty of calls involving cyclists, many of them relatively minor. This one was different. When emergency responders arrived, they found a cyclist in cardiac arrest and a nearby person already […]
by Tom SirmonsUpdated September 2026 with additional details from contemporary news reports and current CPR information. Sometimes the person who saves a life just happens to be in the right place at exactly the right moment. On April 30, 2011, 37-year-old Teresa McCoy was competing in the Meek and Mighty Triathlon in St. Petersburg, Florida, part of […]
by Tom SirmonsWritten by Tom Sirmons When someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest, the person standing nearby may be their best chance of survival. Cardiac arrest happens when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood effectively. Within seconds, the person usually becomes unresponsive and stops breathing normally. Without blood flow, the brain and other vital organs quickly begin to […]
by Tom SirmonsA man who collapsed at a shopping mall in Eureka, Oregon survived after two bystanders stepped forward and began CPR before emergency responders arrived. The original account described a call coming into 911 shortly after 8 a.m. When the fire department’s emergency response team arrived, they found two people already performing chest compressions and taking […]
by Tom SirmonsLeo Staudacher hadn’t planned on watching the Michigan-Notre game on television, let alone in a hospital ICU unit. But he was very grateful to have seen the end of the game at all. The 69 year old Bay City man was watching the game at Michigan Stadium when he collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest, […]
by Tom SirmonsWhen paramedics in Dallas arrived at Sarah Zumwalt Middle School, they found a teacher in the midst of a heart attack. “He was in ventricular fibrillation, a fatal rhythm,” said Fire Department Lieutenant Greg Henderson. They also found that a fellow educator already was performing CPR. Said Henderson, “Bystander CPR is what saved this person’s […]